The franchise's roots trace back to 1974, when the North American Soccer League (NASL) awarded an expansion franchise to San Jose, named the Earthquakes. The name Earthquakes originally came from a newspaper contest in the San Jose Mercury News, in which fans were encouraged to send in suggestions for the name of the franchise. Earthquakes was chosen by the team's general manager Dick Berg, but was criticized due to San Jose's proximity to the San Andreas Fault.[5][6] The NASL folded after the 1984 season and the Earthquakes played in the Western Soccer League (WSL) from 1985–88, under the ownership of Peter Bridgwater.

In 1988, Bridgwater sold the team. When the team folded later that year, the WSL awarded a franchise to Dan Van Voorhis, a local real estate lawyer. Van Voorhis named his new team the Blackhawks, after a real estate development of his. The San Francisco Bay Blackhawks entered the WSL for the 1989 season. In 1991, Van Voorhis hired a former Earthquakes player, Laurie Calloway, as coach. Calloway coached a team full of players who would later play for San Jose in MLS, including John Doyle, Troy Dayak, Paul Bravo, and Eric Wynalda. In a preview of what was to come later in MLS, bitter disagreements between Calloway and Wynalda led to Calloway kicking Wynalda off the team in 1992. Blackhawks owner Dan Van Voorhis later pulled his team out of the WSL's successor league, the American Professional Soccer League, after which it played as the San Jose Hawks in the USISL in 1993. The team folded at the end of the 1993 season.

In 1994, Van Voorhis successfully led a San Jose bidding group that was awarded one of Major League Soccer's inaugural teams. At that time, he handed over all existing Hawks player contracts, front-office resources and the rights to play in San Jose State University's Spartan Stadium to MLS in exchange for Type C stock in the league. He also became the franchise's investor/operator until outside concerns forced him to divest himself of these positions prior to the league's launch and accept a buyout from the league, leaving the franchise league-owned for several years. Meanwhile, a direct connection to the earlier Earthquakes came in the person of Peter Bridgwater, named as General Manager of the MLS team. Although Bridgwater still owned the rights to the Earthquakes name and logo, the team became known as the Clash at the urging of Nike, a major investor in MLS.[citation needed]

On December 7, 1995, Bridgwater hired Calloway as the team's first coach, providing a second direct connection with the NASL Earthquakes, as well as a connection with the Blackhawks. Ignoring the history between Calloway and Wynalda with the Blackhawks, the team acquired Wynalda just over a month later, on January 23, 1996. The Clash's connections to the Blackhawks continued when the Clash made the first trade in MLS history, sending Rhett Harty to the MetroStars for Troy Dayak, both players having spent several years with the team. Despite the presence of Calloway and much of his former team, the Clash failed to achieve the dominance achieved by the Blackhawks.

San Jose was an integral part of the launching of MLS, hosting MLS's inaugural game at Spartan Stadium before a crowd of 31,683 on April 6, 1996. The then-record crowd did not go away disappointed as San Jose won its first game on the first goal in MLS history from Eric Wynalda, defeating D.C. United 1–0. One month later, the club made history again, as they hosted the Los Angeles Galaxy in a match that drew 31,728 fans to Spartan Stadium, setting the record for attendance at a sporting event in the city of San Jose.[1] Wynalda and Calloway were soon at each other's throats. The tensions on the team eventually led to a locker room brawl between Wynalda and John Doyle. The skirmish reached memorable proportions when Wynalda hired an airplane to tow a banner demanding Calloway's firing.[7]

Although the Clash made the postseason in the inaugural 1996 MLS season, and Doyle earned recognition as the best MLS defender, the team floundered in 1997. By mid-season the team was sinking fast and Bridgwater fired Calloway and replaced him with Brian Quinn. The Clash finished 1997 at the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 12–20 record. Things were no better in 1998, when the team finished 13–19 and well out of playoff contention. During the 1999 pre-season, the saga of player-coach antagonism continued when Richard Gough left the team after an argument with Quinn. By the end of 1999, Quinn was done and the team released him to hire Lothar Osiander.

The franchise's official name changed from Clash to Earthquakes on October 27, 1999. After missing four consecutive post-seasons with three different coaches, the Earthquakes hired head coach Frank Yallop days before the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. Yallop's personnel changes and deft coaching with the help of assistant coach Dominic Kinnear and goalkeeper coach Tim Hanley, along with the allocation of star forward Landon Donovan on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, quickly turned around the Earthquakes' on-field fortunes, spurring the biggest regular season turnaround in league history (from 29 points in 2000 to 45 points in 2001) and leading the team to a 2–1 MLS Cup 2001 overtime victory over the archrival Los Angeles Galaxy.

The Quakes followed with two consecutive runners-up finishes for the MLS Supporters' Shield and a 4–2 MLS Cup 2003 win over the Chicago Fire. Prior to reaching the 2003 final, the Earthquakes had rallied from four goals down to beat the Galaxy, 5–4 on aggregate, in a first-round playoff that many MLS watchers described as the greatest in league history. Following the season, Yallop returned to his native Canada to coach the Canadian men's national soccer team. Assistant coach Kinnear was then promoted to head coach, and former San Jose player John Doyle was named as his assistant.

Having won two MLS Cup titles in three years, the Earthquakes were poised for greater success both on and off the field. However, in January 2004, General Manager Johnny Moore, whose roots with the club dated back to his days as a player for the NASL Earthquakes, resigned after AEG and MLS considered allowing the team to be rebranded as San Jose America (with ownership to transfer to the owners of Mexico's Club América). Earthquake fans were similarly outraged at the proposed rebranding, coming just months after the MLS Cup. Former Los Angeles Galaxy defender Alexi Lalas was named as Moore's replacement. Under Lalas' management, the club planned a move to Houston. Meanwhile, when the Quakes' star player, Landon Donovan, played briefly in Germany, Lalas traded away his rights, enabling Lalas' former team, the Galaxy, to acquire him.

On the field, Kinnear led the team to two more playoff appearances, including an MLS Supporters' Shield win in 2005.

In September 2006, after nearly nine months of inactivity (displaying only Commissioner Garber's December 2005 letter of condolence to Earthquakes fans over the team's relocation), the team's website was revived to display updates on the progress of starting up the expansion San Jose Earthquakes franchise and to allow fans to sign up for the Earthquakes Soccer, LLC e-newsletter.

On July 18, 2007, Commissioner Don Garber announced that the San Jose Earthquakes would resume play starting in the 2008 season after Lew Wolff exercised his option to purchase the new expansion team. While functionally being the 14th franchise to join MLS, the team retained all records, logos, colors and titles of the 1996–2005 franchise and is a continuation of that franchise.

In October 2007 the Earthquakes announced they would be moving their offices from the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose to an office park across the street from their temporary home, Buck Shaw Stadium, and across the Caltrain tracks from the location of the former FMC site.[9]

On November 6, 2007, the team announced that former Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop was returning to the team as head coach. According to ESPN.com, the Earthquakes compensated Yallop's previous employer, the Los Angeles Galaxy, with a third-round pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft.[10]

In 2008, England's Darren Huckerby, the MLS Newcomer of the Year and Ireland's Ronnie O'Brien, who made 28 appearances for the Earthquakes, helped anchor the offense, combining for 10 goals and 10 assists. Both played a key part of the team's nine game unbeaten streak that saw San Jose push towards a playoff berth. They also failed to qualify for the US Open Cup, losing to Real Salt Lake 4–0 in the first round of qualifying.

On January 27, 2009, Amway Global signed a three-year deal with the Earthquakes to become the team's official jersey sponsor.[11]

The Quakes missed out on the playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2009 but looked to build on a solid second half of the year, which saw them go 4–4–4 since the All-Star Break. The Earthquakes finished in 14th place and failing to qualify for the playoffs. The Earthquakes also failed to qualify for the US Open Cup, losing to New York Red Bulls on April 29, 2–1.

In 2010, the San Jose Earthquakes qualified for the playoffs as the West's #6 seed with 46 points. In the 2010 MLS playoffs, they were matched up with the #1 seeded New York Red Bulls. After losing the first game by a score of 1–0, the Earthquakes defeated the Red Bulls in the second game by a score of 3–1 to win the aggregate, 3–2, and upset New York. In the single-elimination semi-final match against the Colorado Rapids, at Colorado, the Quakes suffered a 1–0 defeat.[12]

In 2011, the San Jose Earthquakes missed the playoffs after they finished seventh in the west and fourteenth in all of MLS.

In 2012, the San Jose Earthquakes had the best start in franchise history.[13] The team established a habit of scoring late goals to tie or win games. The first was a match against Real Salt Lake on April 21, 2012, scoring 2 goals in stoppage time to win 3–1.[14] The next week, a stoppage time goal produced a win against the Philadelphia Union.[15] Two more games resulted in ties with late goals, both scored by Alan Gordon.[16][17] On May 23, 2012, against the L.A. Galaxy, the Quakes scored 3 times in 18 minutes to win 3–2.[18] After this game striker Steven Lenhart declared "Goonies never say die!" (a reference to the movie The Goonies), and this was made into the rally cry of the team.[19]

The Quakes ended the 2012 regular season with 66 points and 72 goals, both team records, with 17 of those points created by goals scored in the 84th minute or later. The team clinched the Supporter's Shield, its first major trophy since their return to San Jose, and qualified for their first CONCACAF Champion's League tournament as a franchise in 2013. They returned to the playoffs for the first time since their 2010 season and faced two games against L.A. Galaxy. In their first playoff game, the Quakes scored a stoppage time goal to take the away leg 1–0,[20] but were knocked out of the playoffs following a 3–1 loss at home (3–2 on aggregate), their only loss at Buck Shaw Stadium for the season.[21][22]

In 2013, the Quakes began the year facing adversity with numerous players recovering from injury. With added depth in preparation for the upcoming CONCACAF Champions' League, they began the task of duplicating the success of 2012. While the style of scoring late goals were still present in games against New York,[23] Portland[24] and Montreal,[25] the team struggled to find success and quickly found themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference. The slow start of the team led to the departure of coach Frank Yallop and Mark Watson was named interim coach.

On June 29, 2013, the Quakes played the L.A. Galaxy in the California Classico. Despite being down 2–0 and having Victor Bernardez ejected, the Quakes staged another comeback, scoring twice in stoppage time to win 3–2,[26] becoming the first MLS team to do so.[27]

On August 7, 2013, the Earthquakes debuted in the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League for the first time since their return to MLS. They lost the away game to the Montreal Impact 1–0. On October 23, 2013, the Earthquakes won group five on goal differential with a win at home against Heredia,[28][29] and they moved on to the knockout stage of the tournament.[30]

Despite a league best record in games played after June,[31] the Quakes failed to qualify for the 2013 playoffs, losing the final spot to Colorado on a goal differential tiebreaker. The final home game of the season, a 2–0 win against FC Dallas, saw the final minutes of professional soccer for Ramiro Corrales, who had announced his retirement. Corrales was the last remaining active player who played in the inaugural season of MLS.

The Quakes in their 2014 campaign began, playing in the quarterfinals against Toluca in a two game series in the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League. Scoring a goal in stoppage time in the first game, the Quakes went to Mexico 1–1 on aggregate. In the second game, the game tied in regulation. The Quakes faced Toluca in Overtime where neither team could score against the other and the game went on to penalites. The Earthquakes lost 5–4 against Toluca in penalties and were eliminated.

San Jose ended the 2014 MLS Season with the club's worst ever record, winning only 6 matches, and suffering a 15-match winless streak. That streak surpassed the Quakes' previous record of 13 in 2011, and matched the second worst in league history.[32]

The Earthquakes welcomed back Dominic Kinnear to the club as coach after a nine-year tenure in Houston. The franchise's long awaited stadium, Avaya Stadium, was the first soccer-specific stadium in the Bay Area when it opened on March 22. In 2015, Chris Wondolowski became the ninth player in MLS history to score 100 goals, also being the second fastest player in doing so.

Since their inception, the Earthquakes have played in a color scheme featuring blue and black as dominant colors,[citation needed] usually with white highlights. The original San Jose Clash logo featured a stylized scorpion in black and red with a white 'clash' wordmark.

When they rebranded to the Earthquakes in 2000, the team badge featured an inverted triangular shield containing a soccer ball invoking the rising sun used in the logo for the City of San Jose,[citation needed] a stylized 'Earthquakes' wordmark, and a color palette of blue, black, white and silver. The three sides of the triangular shield represented the three largest communities of the Bay Area (San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland).[citation needed]

The team rebranded again on January 30, 2014 to a new crest and kit. While still featuring blue and black, the new design also features red in reference to the previous NASL incarnation of the Earthquakes as well as a new chevron design that invokes the geologic theme of the team's name.[33][34]

On January 13, 2007, while the team was playing its games at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, the San Jose Mercury News reported that the city of San Jose, San Jose State University and the Earthquakes owners were in negotiations to build a soccer stadium just east of the Earthquakes' previous home, Spartan Stadium. The new facility, to have 22,000 permanent seats but be expandable to a capacity of 30,000 for single games, would be privately built by Lewis Wolff and John Fisher, the primary owners of the Earthquakes, with San Jose State providing the needed land. Additionally, the team and the university would build community soccer fields across Senter Road in Kelley Park using San Jose municipal bond money that had been approved years earlier for the purpose but never spent.[35] The plan was for the new version of the San Jose Earthquakes to play in Spartan Stadium during the 2008 MLS season, then move into the new stadium in 2009. Plans for the stadium collapsed on April 19 of that year after the Earthquakes and SJSU could not come to an agreement on revenue sharing.

On May 8, the city of San Jose and Earthquakes Soccer, LLC confirmed that their new primary focus was on a site near San Jose International Airport on the site of the former FMC plant. The new site was owned by the city, which was exploring either leasing it to Earthquakes Soccer, LLC or selling it outright. The 75-acre (300,000 m2) site is adjacent to not only the airport but the planned BART extension to Santa Clara and the existing Santa Clara Caltrain station, and near both Interstate 880 and U.S. Route 101. On June 12, 2007, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to explore construction of a new stadium to bring MLS back to San Jose and adopted a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an Exclusive Right to Negotiate agreement with Wolff and his partners regarding the potential development of the former FMC site. The first payment on the new stadium land of $3 million was made in June 2008.[36][37][38][39]

The preliminary designs were released to the public on September 19, 2009. Avaya Stadium was slated to be a three-sided European style stadium with 18,000 permanent seats and a grass berm at the open end.

On March 16, 2010, the San Jose city council voted 9–0 to rezone the Airport West property to allow for development of the new Avaya Stadium.[40]

The San Jose Earthquakes franchise made history when 6,256 people participated in groundbreaking for the new stadium. This set a world record by Guinness World Records as the largest ever crowd to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony.[41][42] The construction was completed in early 2015 and hosted its first event, a friendly, pre-season match against LA Galaxy, on February 28, 2015.[43] The stadium's official opening took place on March 22, 2015, when the Earthquakes hosted Chicago Fire for their first home game of the 2015 MLS regular season.[44]

The California Clásico[45][46][47] is a rivalry between two Major League Soccer teams, the LA Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes, which existed from 1996 to 2005 and was resumed in 2008. It is considered to be one of the oldest rivalries in American soccer. The rivalry originated from the historical Northern California vs. Southern California sporting and cultural rivalries, as well as from the relative proximity of the cities (about 360 miles apart) which allows rival fans to attend each other's games. While there have been several players to play for both teams beforehand, the rivalry intensified after the Anschutz Entertainment Group (owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy) took sole ownership of the San Jose Earthquakes in December 2002. The rivalry reached its peak from 2001 to 2005, during which time the Earthquakes and the Galaxy combined to win four MLS Cup titles in a five-year period. Both clubs reached MLS Cup 2001, with San Jose posting a 2–1 overtime victory on goals by Landon Donovan and Dwayne DeRosario.

The Heritage Cup with the Seattle Sounders FC was begun in the 2009 MLS season by the respective supporters' groups. Any present or future MLS teams that carry on the names of their NASL predecessors are eligible for the Cup, but supporters of the other eligible MLS teams (Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps) have chosen not to participate.[48][49] San Jose and Seattle have had a rivalry since the NASL. However, it did not completely resurface during the 2009 season with fans of both teams viewing other clubs as bigger rivals.[50] That season, the first MLS meeting of the teams was not considered for the competition due to the schedule consisting of two games in Seattle and only one in San Jose. Seattle won the initial meeting at home 2–0 and the second 2–1. The Earthquakes won the inaugural cup on goals scored after a 4–0 home victory on August 2, 2009.[51]

Among the supporters' groups affiliated with the Earthquakes are the San Jose Ultras, Club Quake, Soccer Silicon Valley, The Casbah and The Faultline.[52][53]

An Earthquakes fan was arrested for assaulting a Portland Timbers fan after taunting the group in April 2013.[54] The 1906 Ultras responded via Twitter: "arrests issue addressed"[55] and to be "moving beyond the issue"[56] ahead of a travel ban that was lifted by Major League Soccer just days prior.

Punk musician, Lars Frederiksen is a supporter of the Earthquakes. Along with his band, The Old Firm Casuals, he wrote the new anthem and theme song, "Never Say Die", for the club, which was performed as part of the team's rebranding ceremony on January 30, 2014. The song features backing vocals by various team members. Frederiksen said of the team that they are the most "punk rock" team in the MLS.[57]

At the beginning of 2013, the Quakes had 5,000 season ticket holders, and although revenues had been increasing, the Quakes stadium did not allow them to generate sufficient revenues to be profitable.[59] Quakes management predicted in 2013 that season ticket sales would double once they move into their new stadium, and the Quakes would become profitable at that time.[59] Management also stated that they are "pursuing independent revenue streams that will provide the team with real and lasting financial freedom." [60] With the completion of their new soccer-specific Avaya Stadium, in early 2015 the Earthquakes reached their cap of 12,000 season tickets sold.[61]

On the radio, all Earthquakes games are broadcast in English on KLIV and in Spanish on KZSF "La Kaliente".[62] Announcer Ted Ramey works as the primary English-language radio play-by-play announcer along with radio color analyst and Earthquakes legend Joe Cannon, their goalie for many years, while Carlos Cesar Rivera serves as the Spanish-language radio play-by-play announcer. La Kaliente's Spanish coverage is simulcasted in Spanish-language SAP either on CSN California or CSN Bay Area.

The years marked with an asterisk show the seasons in which average attendance exceeded Buck Shaw Stadium's capacity. Attendance exceeded capacity because the Earthquakes played select matches at larger American football stadiums.

Green and red shading show the team's highest and lowest season attendances respectively.